New loan program aimed at helping businesses hurt by fire

A new loan program is available to help small business owners get back on their feet after last summer’s Waldo Canyon fire.
The loans, which are interest-free for the first 12 months and for an amount of up to $10,000, are available to those small business owners in El Paso and Teller counties...

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A new loan program is available to help small business owners get back on their feet after last summer’s Waldo Canyon fire.

The loans, which are interest-free for the first 12 months and for an amount of up to $10,000, are available to those small business owners in El Paso and Teller counties who can show a year-over-year revenue loss in 2012 of 10 percent or more, said Tammy Fields, senior vice president-business development for the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance.

The loans come from the Denver-based Colorado Enterprise Fund, supported by the Pikes Peak Region Business Recovery Fund, Fields said. The loans were made possible with the help of nine local banks, the United Way and individuals. and are intended to be small, short-term loans to help businesses recover.

The idea came from the Business Alliance, Fields said. A total of $150,000 is available for loans.

“There was a lot of money going to individuals,” she said, “but no one wanted to give to a for-profit business.”

The loans can be issued for a length of 36 to 48 months, said Aikta Marcoulier, director of the Small Business Development Center on the campus of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The loans carry a zero-percent interest rate for the first year, then 12 percent thereafter for the life of the loan. Payments are $50 per month for the first year.

That amount is applied directly toward the loan’s principle. The balance of the loan is then amortized over the remaining term, Marcoulier said.

The Small Business Administration defines a small business as 500 people or less, Marcoulier said. There are no fees to apply for the loan.

“The banks and the supporters that put the money in underwrote the fees,” she said.
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Contact Ned Hunter: 636-0275